Anonymous political donors are being fined by my home state of California for their secretive little doings...

Citizens United is still alive and well, unfortunately, and huge amounts of money are still influencing elections, but at least officials here are zeroing in on "dark money" groups like those linked to the Koch brothers.

The Kochs ... tried to put the Republicans back in control of the Senate. And they failed. They tried to get more Republicans in the House as well, and they failed at that, too...

Change the world. sway elections, but keep your hands clean...

If you are writing checks alongside the Kochs, you get to be part of this Leviathan, far-reaching, well-funded nest of networks and no one ever has to know that about you unless you want them to. The Washington Post called it "a maze of groups that cloaks its donors."

The Koch brothers say they have nothing to do with drug testing for welfare benefits or with the Florida law. But the group that is promoting that Florida policy around the country is affiliated with the Koch brothers and benefits from being part of their network of conservative political groups. And that matters. And reporting it despite their threats matters...

The Koch brothers are spending and organizing the spending of more money than almost anyone in history to influence American politics.They also fight vociferously to limit real reporting on how much they spend, how they spend it, and what the impact that spending has in our polity. They want to influence American politics. And they are influencing American politics. But they do not want to be known for what it is that they do....

[T]his is also about how American politics works now. And whether it stays in the light, or whether it is allowed to go underground. Because how they are working their side of politics now is millions and millions and millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars, that are intentionally made difficult to trace, funneled to networks that build networks that you can disown when you want to, if you want to.

Does that intentionally opaque political activity get reported on now, or doesn't it? They have tried to make it as hard as possible for that reporting to get done. I say we do it anyway. It's our country too, even if we don't get invited to your billionaires party in Palm Springs every January.